The full article by Robin C. Baneth can be found at:
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=4835 Each paragraph has an argument and response.
1)
’X-Files’ Argument: "I don’t believe in conspiracies, then joke about Hitler now living comfortably in Barbados, completing his second set of diaries for Der Stern have masterminded yet another election day plot to subvert American democracy." Ask why the Washington Post would feed into conspiracy theories that political reporters on its own staff could have debunked in 30 seconds.
RESPONSE: Incorrect: While Hitler and Jim Morrison were the same person, neither had the modem phone numbers and IP addresses can change the central tabulators in a few key battleground counties. One Diebold omployee does not a conspiracy make. $4 billion is odometer fraud every year says where there is an evil will, there is an evil way.
2)
’Sour Grapes’ Argument: "Pro-Kerry folks don’t like losing." We are bad sports.
RESPONSE: Yep, that’s true. See ya at the counter-inaugural.
3)
’The Fat Lady Singing’ Argument: "It’s over, get over it."
RESPONSE: No, don’t think so. You are reading this article aren’t you?
4)
’Don’t Look Under this Shell’ Argument: "Criticize something else."
RESPONSE: Let’s talk about Scott Peterson’s prison cell, Martha Stewart’s book, or Pamela Anderson’s bra. These are much more important issues that fair voting in our democracy.
5)
’The Glass is Half Full’ Argument: "What is happening now is NOT constructive criticism."
RESPONSE: We want printers in the precincts or paper-only voting. Sounds constructive, eerily reasonable, to me. Everyone against, please step backward (off a cliff).
6)
’20/20 Foresight’ Argument: "It was clear that some groups -- having failed to get their way on balloting challenges filed prior to the election -- would be clogging the courts with lawsuits afterward."
RESPONSE: Another vote of confidence for our system! It is broken before, during and after! We predicted it so it can’t be true.
7)
’Frugality’ Argument: "It has cost Ohioans millions of dollars in fighting lawsuits and recounting ballots."
RESPONSE: How much did Ken Starr bilk America for Clinton investigations during his witch-hunt rodeo circus? What was it? Oh yeah! One Hundred million dollars! What did we get for that money? For pennies on Starr dollars we get to defend democracy. 127 million blood dollars per day on Iraq, we think vote reform is a bargain at $10 per precinct and $99 per vote machine
8)
’Shotgun’ Argument: "If they fire enough shots, one may find a mark."
RESPONSE: Translation: 57,000 reports to the GAO. One might be true! That truth must be squelched.
9)
’Chicken-Little Argument: "Can’t cope with the fact that their candidates lost the election."
RESPONSE: We can’t handle a war criminal, social-security busting, star wars, God-talks-to-me, C student, 91 I.Q., draft-dodging, oil-sucking, tax-cuts-for-the-wealthy, pro-poverty, pro-abortion (they are up 16%), frat-boy, so why fight it? Let’s be irrational about it and give into the oh-so-fair Tom Delays and the ones holding the Burr signs dancing around at our Bowles rally.
10)
’Say Uncle’ Argument: "It should stop."
RESPONSE The wheels of justice are too loud. The warm feeling of sand in our ears and the close-up view of the worms in this hole is quite comfortable. Our democracy just cannot take all this scutiny. Stop it!
11)
’We are Above This’ Argument: "Ohioans ought to feel insulted that, in effect, they are being targeted by special interests who are implying strongly that Ohioans are not eager to make elections fair and honest."
RESPONSE: We are just saying the Ken Blackwell is the anti-christ, that’s all.
12)
’Chicken Kiev’ Argument: "Our elections aren’t rigged. Our candidates aren’t poisoned. Voters go to the polls in the greatest democracy on Earth and choose a president every four years. No matter the results, there is always a smooth transition and never a hint of anarchy or revolution. If Kerry’s electors really wanted to witness fraud and voter intimidation, they should have been in Kiev on Nov. 21. It might temper criticism of their
own election system." RESPONSE: Circular reasoning not withstanding: we are supposed to settle for a promise that our elections aren’t rigged despite Ukrainian-style exit polling, statistical anomalies, 6-10 hour waits to vote in Ohio in poor precincts, tossed out poll tapes, 56,991 other problems.
13) ’Emperor New Clothes’ Argument: "There has not been one shred of evidence to indicate that the accuracy of the voting and counting was any less that in previous elections. And Ohio does not have a bad elections record." RESPONSE: The number of complaints has skyrocketed to 57,000; much more than pre-non-paper trail voting. Two elections turned on phony vote tallies, that were later ’moderated’." "Washington, We Have a Problem."
14) ’The Foxes are Guarding the Foxes’ Argument: "The boards of elections and people manning the polls in Ohio counties are half Democrats and half Republicans. The Democrats who were directly involved in arranging and conducting the election are not the ones making the charges." Warren County locked down for Homeland Security? A Kerry official was in the building and saw no problems. Not enough voting machines for black precincts in Columbus? A black Democrat who is chairman of the local board of elections blamed high turnout and a long ballot. The voting machines were allocated by a Democrat. RESPONSE: Fewer machines in democrat precincts than for the elections two and four years prior despite record voter registrations. Not ONE report of a Republican waiting over two hours to vote.
15) ’Yes, it is Broken’ Argument: "There were precincts in Ohio in which voters had to wait one or more hours to get into the booth. But county boards were told to postpone buying new electronic equipments mandated by Congress after the 2000 election, until the state was satisfied that a reliable paper trail could be guaranteed with the electronic machines. If millions of dollars had been spent to buy additional outmoded equipment just for this election, far more people would be complaining about the waste than now are upset about how the election was run." No matter how many lawyers and losers say every vote counts, it’s not true. The IRS can’t collect every penny. Letters get lost in the post office. And when 5.7 million voters show up on the same day in Ohio, some slip through the cracks. This year, Ohio "lost’’ less than 1.5 percent - one of the 10 cleanest elections in the nation, LoParo said. RESPONSE: We put locks on doors, don’t we? Let’s make the software tamper-proof. The manufacturers admit as much; none have passed penetration testing:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/041217/clf031_1.html
16) ’Misery Loves Company’ Argument: The losers can’t win - but they can try to make everyone as miserable as they are. "Buy one, get one free’’ is fine for cell phones - but not elections. RESPONSE: Republicans believe everything is fine and Democrats believe it can be better. We actually want NO ONE to be miserable.
17) ’Democrats are Stupid ’ Argument: "Democrats are hacks (Scarborough)." RESPONSE: There must be some of other measure than I.Q. that Democrats are unaware of. The one that said Bush won the three debates, perhaps.
18) ’Partisan’ Argument: Ask why the Washington Post would feed into partisan theories that political reporters on its own staff could have debunked in 30 seconds RESPONSE: Democrats do not honestly believe in democracy so let’s stop the re-count? This is truly a non-partisan issue in America’s best interest. Arguing against election reform is like hating baseball and apple pie. Three Republican-owned voting machine companies? Blackwell, Harris, sanity anyone?
19) ’Nut-job’ Argument: "People who want election reform are insane. Late last month, the Palm Beach County elections supervisor was attacked by an angry swarm of such conspiracy nuts at a public event. The group, whom I suspect receives transmissions through the fillings in their head from the 1970s rock group Klaatu, still can’t get over the fact that Bush beat Kerry by nearly 400,000 votes in Florida." RESPONSE: Yes, I admit it. I am insane. Now you have proof. By the way, Bev Harris of Black Box Voting (http://www.blackboxvoting.org/) attacked the Palm Beach Officials in the same way Bill O’Reilly attacks his guests everyday. This is coming out on video so you will be able to see for yourselves.
19) ’The Impossible Dream’ Argument: "Not within range Anyone who knows anything about politics knows that questioning the results of all elections that fall within 400,000 votes would cause chaos in the voting process." RESPONSE: Probably the strongest argument but pales when you consider the -16,022 for Gore in Volusia (posted to CNN) and -25 million in Youngstown, Ohio (caught before posting). What happens when the corrupted vote swing is not unreasonable? Could it slip under the radar? How many more errors do we have to wait for till we agree that paper balloting cannot cause such disruption.
20) ’It is Laughable’ Argument: "Anyone who knows anything about Florida politics knows that only the most troubled conspiracy theorist or rabid Democrat could make the laughable claim that Bush’s victory in the Sunshine State was aided by fraud." RESPONSE: Let’s not pursue it because it is funny.
21) ’No Credibility’ Argument: "But that didn’t stop the Washington Post from reporting on a study from Berkeley students and professors who claimed that George Bush got 130,000 of John Kerry’s votes from the three Democratic Counties in South Florida that have electronic voting machines. To make the discovery more credible, the Post reporters interviewed an MIT professor who first professed skepticism at such results. But later, that same professor breathlessly reported that he had looked over the numbers and came up with the same result. Had our Berkeley students and professors conducting said study spent less time reading Noam Chomsky and more time reading Florida election results, they would have understood what political factors led to George Bush outperforming their expectations by 130,000 votes in South Florida." RESPONSE: No published article or internet available refutes the UC Berkeley or UPenn analyses. Thus far, the statistical anomalies they report, that Bush had more of a chance of winning 3 lotteries on 11/2 than seeing the exit polling discrepancy and the odd favoritism of non-paper-trail voting favoring Bush remain unchallenged on their specific facts.
22) ’Democrats are Stoned’ Argument: "I will present these factors numerically in such a way that even a Berkeley student taking a fourth bong hit while assembling his aluminum foil helmet to the background strains of "Dark Side of the Moon" can follow. For those of you not stoned out of your gourd or gazing at the 3D poster of Jesus, Jerry Garcia, and George McGovern waving from atop a UFO you picked up from Spencer’s Gifts, the numbers draw an unmistakable conclusion." RESPONSE: Rush Limbaugh is bogarting all the Oxy-Contin.
23) ’Election system is Infallible’ Argument: Diebold marketers have persuaded election officials that their machines are infallible and therefore require no printers. RESPONSE: What would anyone suspect computers and machines to have failures? Remember The Titanic was unsinkable.
24) ’High Turnout’ Argument: "Ask any mermaid you happen to see and she’ll tell you that a helluva lot more people voted in 2004 than 2000. Higher voter turnout equals anyone? Anyone? That’s right! More votes for both candidates." RESPONSE: Where did George Bush get 8 million new voters? I have not met one. I have yet to meet one person who voted for Gore or who did not vote at all that became Bush people in 2004. Well maybe the Bush tribe of New Zealand.
25) ’John Kerry was On the Ropes’ Argument: "Just weeks before the election, a Palm Beach reporter spoke of the latest Palm Beach County poll showing the president within striking distance of Kerry. Almost all concurred that if Bush was outperforming expectations in heavily Democratic Palm Beach County, then John Kerry was in trouble. Turns out he was. Democratic and Republican operatives were saying before the election that John Kerry was underperforming among key constituencies in South Florida. Some Democrats blamed it on Kerry’s failure to excite African-American voters while others suggested that the absence of Joe Liebermann from the ticket would hurt Democrats in Jewish communities." RESPONSE: Democrat registration up 250% in Ohio, Republican up 20%, yet vote turnout in Franklin County (OH) and Warren County (OH) down 4%. I’d look in the trash can for some missing ballots.
26) ’George Under-Performed his Brother Jeb’ Argument: Had our Berkeley students briefly compared the 2004 election results with those from other years, they would have found that George Bush actually underperformed when compared to other GOP candidates including one named Jeb. Broward (-5%), Palm Beach (-4%), Miami-Dade (-8%). The president’s vote totals may have been 130,000 higher than these Berkeley students had hoped for, but the results were far from unusual. Hell, Bush even got whipped by his little brother and a slate of other Republican candidates in 2004 in these South Florida counties. RESPONSE: Jeb for President in 2008!
27) ’Democrats are Lazy’ Argument: "I don’t want to do their Christmas break homework for them (can you say Christmas in Berkeley?), but here is the voting breakdown ... " RESPONSE: Those arguing for voting reform are beating opponents on every level. This is because we have the facts on our side. State of North Carolina is going to put printers in precincts based on unsubstantiated claims? California sues Diebold for defective machines? We are out working you guys.
28) ’These things Happen’ Argument: "These things don’t happen." RESPONSE: Hear no evil, see no evil. Evil does not exist. No need for courts, law, system.
29) ’Understood and Accepted’ Argument: Even smart Democratic strategists agree that there was no fraud. RESPONSE: Dick Morris, Republican pundit, speaks for all Democrats when he says: "This was no mere mistake. Exit polls cannot be as wrong across the board as they were on election night. I suspect foul play." Of course, he refers to the tainted exit polling, not the tainted election.
30) ’Can’t Handle the Truth’ Argument: "Immediately after the election, many of these conspiracy theorists (who pass themselves off as political activists) spoke of inexplicable vote totals in Democratic counties across North Florida that went for Bush. A few days later it was reported that these same counties had gone for Bush in 2000 and heavily trended Republican in national elections. Another conspiracy theory bit the dust. You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth. Okay. Maybe you can. Here goes." RESPONSE: I actually agree with this argument. Score one for the bad guys.
31) ’Selective Antidotes’ Argument: "They also deserve to know why the paper would raise similar questions regarding the Ohio results when their report in the Buckeye state is based on selective antidotes, partisan attacks, and general observations that could have been made of every election held in all fifty states." RESPONSE: If 57,000 reports to GAO is selective, then I’d like to hear what we are leaving out.
32) ’Federal, Not State’ Problem Argument: "Buckeye state is based on selective antidotes, partisan attacks, and general observations that could have been made of every election held in all fifty states." RESPONSE: Yep.
33) ’Uneven Playing Field for Everyone’ Argument: "As the spokesperson for Ohio’s election department said this week, In Washington, D.C., a voter who casts a ballot in the wrong precinct cannot have that ballot counted. Yet in Ohio, it was ’voter suppression’ and ’voter disenfranchisement.’ Today’s Post report began with a Ohio voter recounting the tragic tale of how young, black men left polling places before casting their votes because they had to wait too long. How is that good for democracy she asked. Pass the Pulitzer and weep for our once free land. Why, there are reports that between 5,000 and 15,000 people lost their votes because they refused to wait in line." RESPONSE: Screw everyone.
34) ’Republicans are Tougher’ argument: "Funny how you never hear similar horror stories from Republican precincts. Is that because it never happens or because the press never reports it? All I know is that on election day, voters in Precinct 110 in Escambia County, Florida stood in line for up to seven hours waiting to vote. When the rain started pouring down and the rest of Florida’s polling places closed down, these voters stayed put. As the hours passed by, the tired voters began singing "God Bless America" and other patriotic hymns. College students drove in pickup trucks filled with bottled water to give the crowd. These people had come to vote and they were going to stay there until their vote was counted. So why didn’t we hear about similar GOP precincts across America on election night?" RESPONSE: Please, one Republican, come forward and tell us you waited in line for three hours or more. We have reports of 10 to 13 hour waits for Democrats. We needed a portable Motel 6.
35) ’Racist’ Agument: "You don’t hear both sides of the story because most Republican voters stuck in line are white conservatives and moderates who voted for Bush. Instead, who among us can resist the tale well told of young black men having their votes stolen by scheming, white Republican power brokers? Even if, in the case of Ohio, the white, scheming Republican is actually black." RESPONSE: Please, one Republican, come forward and tell us you waited in line for three hours or more. We have reports of 10 to 13 hour waits for Democrats. We needed a portable Motel 6. But I guess black people’s time is only worth 3/5 or white people’s time.
36) ’Media Conspiracy’ Argument: "Reporters don’t usually win awards or get noticed by their editors for writing such stories. " RESPONSE: Watch for F 9/11 at the Oscars. Oh, my Dad heard the election controversy for the first time last Friday so this story may be getting over-exposed. Slow down, truth-seekers! The roar is deafening.
37) ’Shoot the Messenger’ Argument: "I am not surprised that a reporter would pitch this story to an Internet publisher who deals in conspiracy theories. But the fact that the Washington Post would publish this sloppy piece of journalism is shocking. Readers of the Washington Post deserve better." RESPONSE: Please help America and increase the coverage of Scott Peterson’s prison cell, Martha Stewart’s book, or Pamela Anderson’s bra. These are much more important issues than fair voting in our democracy.
ALL CONTENT FREE TO RE-USE
by : Robin Baneth
Monday 20th December 2004
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
